On Aug. 10, 2022, American citizen Mahmood Habibi was arrested by the Taliban with 30 of his fellow Asia Consultancy Group employees. Despite both the Biden and Trump administrations obtaining the release of numerous Americans held by the Taliban over the past year, Habibi remains in Taliban custody, as do additional U.S. citizens, according to the State Department.

Obtaining Habibi’s release has been difficult because the Taliban have steadfastly claimed that they do not hold him in custody. Nearing the third anniversary of his capture, his brother, Ahmad Shah Habibi, has come forward to share details that confirm the Taliban have held him.

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Ahmad Habibi provided multiple witness statements to the Washington Examiner that describe an arrest that took place in view of many residents in a busy Kabul neighborhood. Nearly half a dozen Taliban vehicles were reportedly parked outside the 10-story building where Mahmood Habibi lived when Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence members entered to arrest him. Multiple people also witnessed him blindfolded in the backseat of his personal vehicle, which was later driven away by a Taliban member. According to multiple witnesses, his apartment door was also broken in, and his items were ransacked. When GDI personnel emerged, they held his laptop and other personal effects.

Ahmad Habibi also provided a statement from a witness held at GDI headquarters who reported that he heard GDI personnel in a cell next door to his own interrogating his brother. According to a source familiar with the case, others who were held with Mahmood Habibi reported seeing him at GDI headquarters. Ahmad Habibi also described receiving a letter from the Taliban Minister of Communications dated two or three months after his brother’s arrest, explaining that Mahmood Habibi’s investigation by the GDI was ongoing.

Though some self-interested parties have tried to claim that Mahmood Habibi has been killed in Taliban custody, Ahmad Habibi says no one has provided proof. He also says many more witnesses have come forward to provide statements affirming that his brother continues to be imprisoned by the GDI.

A source familiar with the case also told the Washington Examiner that there is evidence, derived by commercially available means, that Mahmood Habibi’s phone was turned on twice, in June and August 2023, and geolocated within GDI headquarters. Ahmad Habibi said the Biden administration omitted using all of this data to push the Taliban into releasing his brother. He reports that the Trump administration is taking a firmer approach with Afghanistan’s de facto government.

“The pressure they’re putting on the Taliban is great,” Ahmad Habibi said, explaining that he has met with the National Security Council, State Department, and FBI.

Part of the Trump administration’s campaign has reportedly involved blocking Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s Aug. 4 travel to Pakistan by refusing to approve an exemption to his United Nations Security Council travel ban. A source familiar with the case says the United States also blocked exemptions for Abdul-Haq Wasiq, the head of the GDI, and Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. Neither the White House, the State Department, nor the Pakistani Ambassador to the U.N. confirmed that the U.S. was involved with blocking travel for any Taliban member.

The Trump administration’s hardball approach certainly appears to have changed the Taliban’s tune about Mahmood Habibi’s detention. After repeatedly denying being aware of his existence, Suhail Shaheen, head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, told the Washington Examiner that “according to security forces, they don’t know about his whereabouts but their search to find him has been continuing ceaselessly.” Ahmad Habibi said the Taliban’s new message gives him hope that “at some point, they will come up and say ‘Oh, we found Mahmood.’”

Mahmood Habibi’s detention has long been linked with Taliban suspicions about his employer’s role in the July 22, 2022, drone strike on al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri.

ARX Communications, the parent company of Asia Consultancy Group, has been mum about its role in Mahmood Habibi’s detention. Reporting from Reuters elucidated that the CIA had utilized cameras from ARX Communications in order to spot Zawahiri as he walked onto the balcony in Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani’s guest house. The CIA then used a drone to deploy two R9X Hellfire missiles, which killed Zawahiri.

Ahmad Habibi believes that the CIA should have warned ARX Communications of the danger to its employees following the attack, and that ARX Communications ought to have warned his brother, an American citizen, of the particular danger he faced when returning to Kabul for work days after the attack.

Though many elements of the Trump administration are helping the Habibi family, the CIA is a notable exception, according to Ahmad Habibi. The CIA did not respond to questions about its support of the GDI or whether it ought to have warned ARX Communications about dangers to their staff. ARX Communications also failed to respond to questions about its duty to protect Mahmood Habibi.

Obtaining Mahmood Habibi’s release is of paramount importance. The Taliban were transparent about their detention of previously released Americans Ryan Corbett and George Glezmann, who were known to have developed serious health conditions while imprisoned. It is hard to fathom the conditions Mahmood Habibi has experienced in three years of Taliban custody.

FBI officials said that the bureau “and our partners in the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell remain committed to bringing Habibi home to his family. We urge anyone with information about his disappearance or location to contact their local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.” A White House official said they “are closely tracking this case. President Trump and his Administration are working tirelessly to bring all Americans home, to include Habibi.”

The State Department’s response included a previously unreported fact: that additional Americans are held by the Taliban.

“We know the Taliban abducted and detained Mahmood Habibi nearly three years ago,” a State Department spokesperson said. “Mr. Habibi and all Americans detained in Afghanistan should be released immediately. If the Taliban wants any chance of a constructive relationship with the United States, they need to resolve this issue.”

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The State Department did not respond to a subsequent inquiry about how many Americans are currently in Taliban custody. A source familiar with the situation said they believe that four Americans are held by the Taliban, including Mahmood Habibi.

The State Department announced a $5 million reward through the Rewards for Justice program for any information leading to Mahmood Habibi’s “location, recovery, and safe return.” Most anxious for that safe return are the members of his family. The detained American’s daughter was 10 months old when her father was arrested.

Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.